


The Sentinel and An Enchanted Evening

by Banbury



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Fairy Tale Elements, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-06-13 22:38:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15374925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Banbury/pseuds/Banbury
Summary: Written for TSSS'14Jim & Blair get a surprise when they try to help a friend...





	The Sentinel and An Enchanted Evening

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PattRose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PattRose/gifts).



> I'm sure it was betaed (just can't find any notes by whom) and I'm very grateful to this person. All remaining mistakes are my oversight.

[](http://www.mediafire.com/view/ou7se6c8lmsswlr/EnchEveFinal.jpg/file)

 

It was dark outside the plane's windows, not a glimmer of light under the wings, only sleepy stars winking at each other lazily above. Blair sighed. He thought of presents under the Christmas tree back at home and the still warm cake in the oven. There were invitations to Megan's and Captain's parties for tomorrow and his own plans for today's evening. All gone to hell with that call.

Blair hadn't been sure Jim remembered the significance of this particular Christmas. They met each other ten years ago and what time it had been... actually, he didn't want to remember it all now. The only thing that was really important for Blair to remember and dwell upon now was their other anniversary, three years being together. 

Blair smiled. He couldn't pinpoint now the exact moment they came to be together, the only moment he remembered clearly was that Christmas eve three years ago when he'd woken up in Jim's arms on the cushions under the tree. Highly confusing as well as highly enjoyable evening. 

Blair had all the intentions to recreate the memorable day down to the long ago thrown away ancient rug. And it all had been blown away with one phone call.

Blair looked at Jim from the corner of his eye. His friend and partner sat rigidly looking out the window. 

'Jim...'

'You should've stayed home, Chief.' Jim rubbed his forehead and added, 'I'm awfully sorry that I ruined our evening, but I just couldn't...'

Blair squeezed Jim's shoulder. 'Jim, you don't need... Do not ever apologize for being loyal to your friends and for wanting to protect and help. It's such an essential part of you and I admire and love you even more for it.'

Jim glanced back at Blair and relaxed a little.

'You really should've stayed home. I'm sure I won't need any of my senses to help the kid, it's just Peter doesn't know who to trust now.' Jim said last words very quietly, as though only to himself, but Blair knew him too well not to pick it up. 

Blair looked around one more time - tiny private jet with Jim’s old army buddy at the control panel. This comradeship never ceased to amaze him: one call and Jim cancelled all his plans; another one, and they had all the newest gear and a plane to go with it. Jim talked with his army buddy in a 'bird's' language and Blair understood nothing, but then he found himself in camouflage with a 'chute strapped to his back on the way to nowhere.

'You never told me who's Peter.'

Jim didn't turn to him, just rubbed his face with his hands. 'Peter's older brother was in my unit. Peter never believed us gone and he searched all the time. He found us finally and I vowed to be his older brother. I...'

'You never told me about him.' Blair knew he didn't know a lot about Jim's life before he joined police. Not because Jim didn't trust him, rather it was sometimes too painful to talk about. Blair accepted it, but sometimes he wished...

'I couldn't. He'd left the army then and now he works for some governmental body that deals with special operations. His kid is there too, he's undercover now, but there were some strange data security breaks and Peter needs to get his kid out asap. I'm the one who could do it without raising suspicions.'

Blair gulped, he realized suddenly what they actually had to do in the next few minutes. It wasn't his first parachuting but jumping in the snowy darkness on Christmas eve was a bit frightening. He sighed, that was his life - finding himself in the strange situations at an unsuitable time. 

The pilot shouted back, 'We're here, jump at once'. And there they were, not a minute after Blair contemplated his fate he was already in the air, dangling on the thin straps and trying not to close his eyes. He was so busy following Jim's flight path that he didn't have time to look around, not that he would've see anything besides falling snow. 

No wonder it came as a complete surprise when his legs collided with something resilient though not squishy, something that yielded to his weight and let him sink into a mass of thorny branches. Blair closed his eyes and just waited for the fall to end.

He might've caught a branch with his straps because he felt something yanked him up and then the fall stopped. He swung a couple of times trying to find something to grab at before opening his eyes. Jim was nowhere to be seen.

'J..Ji-im', Blair whispered not hearing himself in the wind and the noise. The sounds around were strange and hard to identify - tinkling, rustling...

'I'm here, Chief', Blair heard subdued noise from behind and felt rather than saw Jim's head peering through the thick fir branches. 'Sorry, got stuck, can't get all the way through'. 

'Where're we?' Blair desperately tried not to panic but Jim might've felt it in his tone and stretched his hand towards his partner.  
'Not sure right now, but the coordinates are correct. Do you see?'

Blair looked at him with wide-open eyes and then noticed a small rectangular device on Jim’s arm. He didn't recognize a single digit but felt reassured.

'Can we unfasten the 'chute and get down to do your thingy and go home?' Blair didn't know how much pleading one could detect in his voice but Jim laughed a little at his words.

'In a minute, Chief, don't you worry'. He went back.

Blair wasn't sure it was wise to unfasten straps not knowing how to get down and how far the said 'down' actually was. Now, that he knew he wasn't alone and could put his faith in Jim, he remembered about a pocket flashlight in one of his pockets and dug it out. The light was too weak to see far or anything around him. All Blair saw was fir branches and more branches. Then something golden-red flashed to the right and a little back. Blair reached forward as far as his straps would allow him and turned the flashlight one more time.

That golden-red thing wasn't a stray balloon or a kite as one might’ve expected but something solid and sparkling. Blair raised his head and tried to see the top of it. There was no top... But then he saw it – an eyelet with a glittery silver string securing that thing on a branch. If Blair hadn't fallen into the tree literally from the sky he would've said that 'it' looked a lot like a Christmas-tree decoration. Like ...

Blair began to move his flashlight from side to side frantically. There! There's a big bell and part of a garland and a ball and...  
'Jim! JimJimJim!!! It's a tree!'

'I know it's a tree,' Jim was suddenly beside Blair, his hands encased in large fir gloves that helped him to hold securely onto the thorny fir branches. 'We both...'

'No! You see - it's a Christmas tree!'

Jim turned his head the way Blair pointed his flashlight, looked at the giant red-golden thing lazily swinging in the breeze for a moment or two, said something unintelligible, then let the branch go and disappeared below.

'J-J-J...' Blair looked at the spot where Jim had been just now bewildered, then it all downed on him and Blair screamed, 'JI-I-IM!', while frantically unfastening his 'chute and sliding down through the fir needles, bumping at various decorations and shouting over and over.

He closed his eyes not being sure he wanted to see where he'd land. He was more than surprised when he landed on something not very soft, but warm and yielding that squeaked indignantly in two voices. Blair squeaked himself, turned over and opened his eyes.

There was Jim flattened out a bit between Blair himself and a younger version of Jim - tall (as far as he could see), buff and with some military air about him. The younger man said something breathlessly and tried to push both older men off him. Blair rolled sideways, Jim did the same on the other side and the native sat up.

'Hey, Uncle Jim, fancy meeting you here.' He took a deep breath and coughed.

'Hey yourself, kid. Your father was worried.'

'Thank you, Uncle Jim.' The guy sighed. 'I wasn't sure he got my messages.'

'O, he got them alright. Why do you think Blair and I abandon our humble abode... Oh, sorry, you never met my partner, Blair... What was it I... Yes! Do you know how to get out of here?' Jim took his binoculars out of the backpack and peered upwards through the snow and the darkness. 'Peter didn't tell me any particulars, just that you needed reinforcements and... by the way, do you know why there are Christmas decorations about my size on this fir tree?' 

The 'kid' nodded to Blair with friendly smile.

'You did find it? I still don't know what to think of it. All the things here are so strange that I just feel so over my head, like I'm crazy or dreaming all the time. There were dwarfs! And a talking crow; and an old lady, who shook out pillows before the snowfall; and then I saw that guy... there's something really creepy about him... slippery type, that one, real scum.'

'You mean..?' Blair with his scientifically oriented mind tried to put all the details into something resembling some order.

'The local mayor... He is something else, don't know what to make of him - he's small, grey and looks a lot like a rat.' Young man shivered. 'Let's get outta here, too cold.'

Blair was shivering by the time they reached a slightly dilapidated one-story house and slipped inside through the back door. Blair couldn't pinpoint what exactly was off with this place. The woods they forced their way through seemed a bit too overgrown and strangely enough most of the trees decorated with giant Christmas ornaments. The houses in the village looked a bit too fake or rather like a theater set. The people... they didn't see people at all. 

'Nobody's out after seven o'clock.' It was like the young man read Blair's mind.

'It's a really strange place. Why are you here at all?' Blair watched the young man. The young man shrugged.

'It really did not seem to be a place of interest for the government. I was sent on a recon - there were rumors about an underground ring of sorts, but nobody here seems to know.' He looked at Jim helplessly. 'I don't want to screw it up, but I can't seem to find anything useful or even believable.'

Jim nodded. 'It smells like candles and hot toddy and some kind of pie.'

'You see! It even smells like nothing real. There are really no problems except with the head guy and our analyst. No! The only problem is that I can't find a way out. It's like it disappears every time I look closer. I don't even remember what to look for.'

The young man sounded very small and quite lost. He was sitting on the edge of an old-fashioned chair and Blair suddenly wanted to hug him.

'What time should we head back?' Jim didn't like the feel of that place and wanted to start back as soon as possible.

'I don't have a particular time, just every day around dawn a chopper would wait for me on the edge of the forest. I'm trying to reach it, but every time I wind up near that tree where we’ve met. And the compass never works.' He sounded defeated and remote.

'Up, all of you, up, up.' Jim got up and shoed all of them towards the door. 'We don't need to wait. It's not too cold to wait for some time outside, but we need time to find the way. Hey, Chief, you're good with assessing the situation and I need you to notice everything; and you, Junior, will be showing me the way.'

'Okay, Uncle Jim.' The kid sounded uncertain.

'Junior?' Blair mouthed to his younger companion.

'Peter Junior,' the other man smiled and looked more at ease.

They headed back in the snow. It was clearer now, occasional snowflakes lazily drifted down and the whole scenery looked even more like a film set. It even smelled like ginger snaps now and Blair would've been tempted to take a bite if not for his knowledge of how this kind of stories usually ended. 

'What's so funny, Chief?' Jim sounded strangely irritated despite all that festive atmosphere. 

'It's nothing, I just expect to stumble over Hansel and Gretel any minute.' Junior smiled at his words and nodded in agreement.   
Jim frowned and crouched under a window of a pretty lilac house with a tiny tower and a balcony.

'Jim?'

'Sh-shsh.' Jim put his hand on Blair's shoulder. 'Ground me.'

Blair nodded and tried to figure out what was it that Jim felt the need to listen to or to smell or to... 

'Holy ... something! Do you know who lives there?' Blair shrugged but Junior nodded with uncertainty.

'Goldilocks? I think I saw someone’s long golden hair through the window once but couldn't come closer. And how you..?' The younger man looked at Jim with suspicion.

'Long story... You know what I just heard? She was talking to a bear! Is it for real here?' Jim shook his head in wonder. 'You know, Junior, that head honcho of yours, the one that looks like a rat, he is a rat.' Jim pointed to a house that looked like a village town hall but obviously dreamed to grow up to be a palace. 'You know, there's a tale... what was it... about that boy and a rat... or a nut...'  
Blair snickered. 'You mean Nutcracker?'

'That's the one!' Jim nodded towards the only illuminated window. There were a couple of shadows moving behind the stained glass. He turned to Peter, 'Do you see?'

'What?' 

'That! The shadow to the left. It has three, four... seven heads, I presume, it might be seven rats, but looks like more as...'

'Bad picture, Jim. Let's not talk about rats.' Blair shuddered and pulled at Jim's hand. 'Let's head our way.'

'But you saw it?! Really?!' Junior sounded hopeful and incredulous simultaneously. 'I'm not a head case? It's really **that** bad?'

'Or that enchanted...' Blair muttered under his nose.

They crept along the street trying to stay below radar. Their goal was quite obvious - to go down the street and then along the half-covered with snow forest pathway. In ten minutes they found themselves at the back door of the house.

'Damn it! And it happens every ... every time!' Junior sat in the snow heavily. 'We'll die here of an old age trying to find the way out.' 

Blair stood beside his companions and thought of his pie in the oven and presents under the tree and the fireworks at midnight and the little extra present he was sure he felt under his pillow. Those were nice thoughts and he began to murmur 'Warm December' under his nose...

'Pst.'

Blair looked around not sure what he heard just now.

'Pst, mister!' There was a mouse - a little grey mouse with tiny jackboots, purple with golden trim doublet and a tricorne. 'I can help you.'

'Uhmm... You mean, you can help us?' Blair knew that after that encounter he would believe anything. 'You mean... the road?'

The mouse nodded vigorously. 'Sure, can. We need to go right now, it's a little time till dawn.'

'Hey, guys.' 

Jim and Junior argued over something in a hashed but nevertheless forceful whisper.

'Guys? Do you want to go home?' They didn't pay any attention to Blair. 'Hmm, don't know about you, but I'm all ready for a big glass of mulled vine and a pie.'

'What kind of pie?' If Blair was surprised to have an intelligent conversion with a mouse, he didn't show it not to embarrass his company. 'I like apple pies and lemon ones and blueberry too, but most of all - cheese pie... Mmm.'

'I agree with you. Lemon pies and cheese ones are always good. Apple is a bit too traditional, but I found that great recipe... Tried it once, just to be sure, you know...'

There was a dead silence behind and Blair turned around.

'Hey guys, you see - we found us a guide and the one with an impeccable taste.' He lifted his eyebrow at their bewilderment. 'Are we ready to go?'

The trick was, as it turned out, to close their eyes and go by ear. Blair nearly slapped himself on the forehead, he should've gotten it! On the other hand, they might've gotten lost that way as easily if not for their guide. Blair felt bright sunbeam striking him in the eye and woke up. He was standing on the edge of the forest looking at the amazing colours of the dawn. Jim and Junior were several feet ahead talking to the chopper pilot. There was something missing though and Blair frantically turned about searching for it. 

There was a tiny purple tricorne trimmed with feathers by his feet. Blair almost stepped on it if not for its bright colour. He picked it up. He might've thought he has dreamed the whole journey, if not for the evidence at his feet; and it smelled just like Christmas pie from the oven at their home where everything was already set up for a wonderful anniversary breakfast after the most enchanted holiday of their lives.

**Author's Note:**

> Finally decided to move all my stories posted anywhere to AO3 :)


End file.
